


Storm-wrack:  The Flotsam and Jetsam of the Heart

by red_day_dawning



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, Angst, M/M, Post-War, Romance, Slash, snarry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-12
Updated: 2011-02-12
Packaged: 2017-10-15 14:25:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/161708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/red_day_dawning/pseuds/red_day_dawning
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>That rash, reckless, foolish,  idiotic man-boy....   Severus’ heart began to beat faster, leaping and pirouetting to a new rhythm that sang through his arteries and veins.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Storm-wrack:  The Flotsam and Jetsam of the Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Many, many thanks to piglet76 for beta-reading this for me. *smooches* Any mistakes remain my own.  
> The notion of an owl acting as a secret-keeper did not originate with me, although I don’t know who to thank for the idea.
> 
> J.K.Rowling et al own the characters and settings of Harry Potter - no copyright infringement intended, no profit made here.
> 
> Written for LiveJournal and Insanejournal's snarry100 prompt # 251: after the storm

1\. Storm-wrack

After the storm only sorrow and regret remained. The tattered debris of memories, traps for the unwary. Lethal shards of storm wrack now scattered along the desolate shore. The flotsam and jetsam of the heart.

The landscape was unfamiliar, storm-changed. Stony crags formed the shapes of strange turrets and threatening crenellations; cliffs once easily navigated through the dark of moonless nights now utterly transformed. His memory formed paths where they had once found a bounty of herbs together. Following those familiar trails would now be a step off the cliff-edge, a step into the endless grace of sky and air.

 

2\. The Flotsam and Jetsam of the Heart

Slowly, slowly, he became acquainted even with the strange and unfamiliar, those new storm-brought changes. Eventually even the razor-edged turreted crags became his castles in the air, aeries to view endless expanses of sea and sky.

Erosion and tidal changes shaped and patterned the sands along the shore. Daily walks made Severus aware of an infinite cycle of changes. One sunny morning, a hermit-crab changed shells. One night, a storm tore away cliff edges and flung them into a ravening sea. Minute or magnificent evolutions, sometimes birthed in a day’s sky-blue calm, sometimes spawned in the rage of a storm.

~*~

One morning, Athena, Severus’ faithful owl, hooted an alert and a command to follow. Her flight ended at a rocky spit that reached out into the crash of waves. Frantic hooting and an undignified flapping of wings directed him to her discovery. There a bottle lay cradled in a small pocket of sand, a graceful curved vessel of clear, thick, old-fashioned glass stoppered with a thick cork.

Severus tugged out the cork and tipped out a roll of parchment. There in bold black letters were written the words: _Severus, please, read this. I’m begging you, please read on._ ”

~*~

In a state of dream-like calm Severus unrolled the parchment.

 _Severus,  
Please read this, I love you.  
I can’t get back home to you, you stupid git, I can’t find the way. I’ve tried and tried.  
Something changed after the storm that night we fought -- and it’s somehow connected to Athena’s Fidelius -- I can’t find you no matter how far I fly.  
Please, please forgive me for leaving that night, I was stupid, angry and a git.  
I love you and want to come home -- I love you so bloody much.  
Always yours,  
Harry._

~*~

That rash, reckless, foolish, idiotic man-boy. _Harry loved him and wanted to come home._ Severus’ heart began to beat faster, leaping and pirouetting to a new rhythm that sang through his arteries and veins.

Severus fastened a hastily composed message to Athena’s leg. He watched the owl fly away until her wings were lost against the horizon’s blue. He tipped his head back, his eyes closed and face bared to the sky, feeling the warmth and light of the sun against his skin. He opened his eyes, blinking away unaccountable tears. Above him arched an endless beautiful sky.


End file.
